'These are all timeless questions and in our country we've been facing these situations for the last dozen years or so." - David Bradley

In the ninth year of the Trojan War, Greek soldiers, civilians required by law to serve in the military, are depleted from the long deployment.

Thousands of their comrades have been killed in combat, including the Athenian's greatest warrior, Achilles.

His death is a blow to his men, and especially to his friend, Ajax, himself a formidable soldier.

Major General John Gronski, (forefront), the commander of the 28th Infantry Division of the Pennsylvania National Guard, said the reading of Sophocles' Ajax offered a powerful opportunity to have an important dialogue on suicide prevention in the military.Ivey DeJesus/PennLive

As any student of ancient literature knows that sets the scene for one Greek tragedy's greatest tale - that of Sophocles' Ajax, a chronicle of the events following the Iliad.

The play may have been written in the 5th century, B.C., but its message - that of the suicide of a combat-weary soldier - resonates with urgency in the 21st century.

On Thursday, a theater group brought the tale's powerful message to an audience that has over the past decade grappled with the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorders and suicide - members of the Pennsylvania National Guard.

Outside the Wire, a "social impact company," staged the performance of the "Theater of War: Soldiers & Citizens Tour" at Fort Indiantown Gap in Annville. Several dozen members of the Guard, in addition to civilians, attended the reading. The program has toured across hundreds of cities, presenting a program designed to foster understanding and compassion towards suicide among soldiers, and spread awareness about prevention resources.

"It is timeless," said director David Bradley. "It is a very good translation so you feel you can connect without stretching. There are phrases like Tecmessa (Ajax's wife) saying that Ajax has a thousand yard stare. That is something you hear soldiers, Marines and sailors talk about .... that kind of trauma."

The tale, Bradley said, offers a perfect opening for a dialogue on suicide and suicide prevention.

"Ajax is experiencing great stress, great loss, great trauma, being in the midst of great violence and a nine-year war. Troops have been through a long deployment," Bradley said. "These are all things that resonate in the 21st century. How do you process grief? How do warriors process grief and trauma? How do family member process grief and trauma? How does a community embrace a returning warrior who is in trauma? These are all timeless questions and in our country we've been facing these situations for the last dozen years or so."

Major General John Gronski, the commander of the 28th Infantry Division of the Pennsylvania National Guard, said the reading of Ajax offered a powerful opportunity to have an important dialogue.

Gronski pointed out that since 2011, the Guard had seen 19 suicides.

"That's very tragic," he said.

The glimmer of hope, he said, was the fact that 207 suicide-related reports had been logged, meaning that soldiers were reaching out to the various suicide prevention resources and "their buddies."

But, Gronski said, "one suicide is much too many."

Suicide among Pennsylvania National Guard is on the decline, with six in 2012 and four in 2013. Still, already this year, the branch has seen two suicides among its members, both occurring within the past couple of weeks.

He posed a hypothetical situation: that of someone in the room having a heart attack. "If you never went through CPR training, you would have trouble helping that person at that moment," Gronski said.

Bradley said Sophocles - himself a general - most likely wrote the play to tell the story, so that it could be out in the open.

"Ajax feels this shame," he said. "That only cowards and women cry tears like this he says at one point. I think he feels this isolation and otherness. These events are about reaching that isolation and about saying you are not about 'other.' If you experience trauma, you are not other. If you experience pain, that is what it is to be human."

The reading was followed by a panel discussion that included civilians and active and retired military personnel.

Command Sergeant Major (Ret.) Martin Rafalko, coordinator of Survivor Outreach Services Support, said the misfortunes that befell Ajax can happen to anyone "even the most experienced warrior."

He said that while suicide often carries a stigma, particularly for surviving families, the members of that family need to be reminded that the honor of the warrior was in how he lived, not how he died.

Outside the Wire presented the reading along with its partners Massachusetts General Hospital Academy, the National Council for Behavioral Health and Points of Light, an organization that mobilizes volunteers to work with returning military personnel.

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